Portable sawmill

Abstract

A portable sawmill including a log positioning section, a log sawing section and a drive for the log positioning section and the log sawing section; the log positioning section including a supporting frame with an inclined face and a conveyor disposed along the inclined face; the log sawing section including a substantially flat log bed, a first conveyor for moving logs along the bed, a first saw assembly including at least two saw blades rotatably mounted on a common horizontal drive shaft disposed below the log bed, means for adjusting the spacing between the saw blades, at least two vertically disposed guides positioned adjacent the delivery area of the saw blades, and means for adjusting the spacing between the guides, a second saw assembly including a plurality of saw blades rotatably mounted on a common vertical drive shaft disposed adjacent to the log bed, a second conveyor located adjacent the delivery area of the plurality of saw blades, and the drive including controls for independently actuating the conveyor of the log positioning section and the first and second conveyors of the log sawing section.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A portable sawmill including a log positioning section, a log sawing section and drive means for said log positioning section and said log sawing section; said log positioning section including a supporting frame with an inclined face and a conveyor means disposed along said inclined face of said supporting frame with means to engage and move logs transversely of their lengths up the inclined face, said log sawing section including an elongated substantially horizontal log bed adjacent the upper end of the inclined face of said supporting frame, first conveyor means for moving logs along said bed, a first saw assembly including at least two substantially vertical saw blades rotatably mounted on a common horizontal drive shaft disposed adjacent said log bed, means for adjusting the spacing between said substantially vertical saw blades, at least two vertically disposed guide means positioned adjacent the delivery area of said substantially vertical and aligned therewith saw blades, means for adjusting the spacing between said guide means, a second saw assembly including a plurality of substantially horizontal saw blades rotatably mounted on a common vertical drive shaft disposed adjacent to said log bed, second conveyor means for moving along said bed located adjacent the delivery area of said plurality of saw blades, and said drive means including controls for independently actuating said conveyor means of said log positioning section and said first and second conveyor means of said log sawing section; said means for adjusting the spacing between said substantially vertical saw blades including means for rotatably supporting one of said substantially vertical saw blades, said saw support means being associated with another of said substantially vertical saw blades and movable toward and away therefrom, and means for effecting movement of said saw support means. 
     
     
       2. A portable sawmill according to claim 1 wherein said conveyor means of said log positioning section and said first conveyor means of said log sawing section are endless chain conveyors. 
     
     
       3. A portable sawmill according to claim 1 wherein said second conveyor means includes at least one gripping roll rotatably mounted on a vertical drive shaft and a rotatably mounted vertical pressure roll adjacent to and biased toward said gripping roll. 
     
     
       4. A portable sawmill according to claim 1 wherein said log positioning section and said drive means are separable from said log sawing section and each is independently supported on its own wheeled carrier. 
     
     
       5. A portable sawmill according to claim 1 wherein said means for adjusting the spacing between the saw blades of said first saw assembly and the spacing between said guide means includes hydraulic cylinders and pistons. 
     
     
       6. A portable sawmill according to claim 5 wherein only one of said saw blades and one of said guide means are moved to change the spacing thereof. 
     
     
       7. A portable sawmill according to claim 1 wherein said drive means includes a direct drive system and a hydraulic system. 
     
     
       8. A portable sawmill according to claim 7 wherein said direct drive system includes drive lines and universal joints for said first and second saw assemblies. 
     
     
       9. A portable sawmill according to claim 1 including anti-kickback means adjacent said second saw assembly. 
     
     
       10. A portable sawmill according to claim 1 including sawdust collection means adjacent said first and second saw assemblies.